


Pac-Man and the Human Adventures

by IceMage11



Category: Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Bullying, Dystopia, Friendship, Gen, Genocide, Ghosts, High School, Magic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Paranormal, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-03-26 19:00:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19011913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceMage11/pseuds/IceMage11
Summary: Pacster Bak is an unpopular teenage boy obsessed with ghosts. He spends most of his days with his friends at Maze High doing homework, attending classes, and avoiding bullies. One day his best friend Spiral convinces him to go into Maze 256 and this changes his life forever when he learns about the mysterious Power Berries and the truth about the world.





	1. Meet Pacster

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, nice to see you reading my story. This is my own version of Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures but humanized with some differences here and there. It won't be completely accurate to the Ghostly Adventures canon which means it's its own thing. Of course, the fact that everyone is human now probably tipped that off. Now, some people may be out of character which I think is okay since this is its own thing, and if that turned you off then don't worry the important character traits are still there like how Pacster eats a lot and is obsessed with ghosts and how Skeebo is a huge douche nozzle. My only warning as of now is that the story will be pretty long and I'm not completely sure if I can finish it but I'll do my damnedest. Anyway I hope you all enjoy and don't forget to review!

"Now, 55 years ago Lord Betrayus started his noble rebellion against the tyranny of the Pac-United Nations in an event known as Pac-World War I. His rebellion lasted for only eight months before he was forced to retreat in the caves under the stony mountains were he and the remnants of his army regrouped. During the period they say a miraculous discovery was made right here in this city, but as someone who lived here in that period I can tell you that this is just "resistance" propaganda. The only discovery made was the dreadful fact that blondes could gain powers from eating fruit from the tree of life, so Lord Betrayus, being the benevolent man that he is, decided that tree had to be wiped out for the safety and security for the new world order he wanted to bring onto this world. It's unfortunate that innocent lives had to be lost but be assured it was done all in the name of the greater good. Now, if you want more details then turn to page 72 of your textbooks and before you ask, YES, this will be on the exam. "

 

It was another boring pre-modern history class at Maze High School and the majority of students were waiting for the bell to ring. One of these patient students was a boy wearing a striped yellow and white shirt with blue jean shorts and red shoes with white socks. He had bright orange hair and blue eyes, and this boy is also the protagonist of this story. His name is Pacster Bak and this boy didn't like history class. In fact, as Mr. Rolly was giving his lecture Pacster was reading a book about ghosts that he secretly hid inside his Modern History textbook. Most considered ghosts not real and the belief in them outdated but our young hero knew better. While he had no personal experiences with ghosts he could feel that in his heart they were real, and according to his research they actually are! They're just in a place called the nether realm, another dimension believed to be physically located inside Pac-World and that the door to this nether realm was hidden away somewhere in the world. Of course, when Pacster wrote a report on this nether realm for social studies he was laughed out of the classroom and had his lunch period revoked but hey, everyone found it more interesting than what was currently being discussed.

 

Pacster's class was listening to a lecture about Lord Betrayus' role in the Pac-World Wars. Lord Betrayus was the current and 1st ruler of the world and the story of how he came to power was required to be listened to in all grades, but many teens were told this story when they were young so as you can imagine hearing it over and over bored them. The orangehead was no exception as he believed Betrayus to be a bad man who did many bad things to get into power. Of course, if he were to voice this opinion he would be taken away to either prison or a re-education camp where he would "relearn" everything. From what Pacster heard it's a lot like physical beatings + history class which didn't sound fun or educational but this could always be made up so you don't want to end up in there but if re-education camps were really like that then he'd take being in prison for life over that anyday! So he kept his true feelings about the society he lived in a secret so nothing bad could happen to him. All he needed to do was just listen to the lecture and survive class.

 

"Skeebo Heebo! Don't you dare think I didn't see your text to your girlfriend, you know the staff of this highschool can see when and where you text and to who you text to and what is in the text. You know, because the school surveillance system sends us alerts. Did you forget your EyePhones are automatically, irreversibly connect to our computers?" The teacher was once again angered over one of the most popular guys in school, the jock sitting exactly in the middle of the class, Skeebo. He had deep blue slick backed hair and wore the school's blue, white and yellow jock jacket only those in the football team wore to show who they are and blue jeans. Skeebo Heebo was the most popular kid in school, star of the football, basketball, and soccer teams, and was also a huge bully to Pacster. As the most popular guy, others went along with him when he was being a bully so Pacster didn't have many friends. It was odd, as the jock was a nice and great guy to everyone but for some reason he seemed to hold a grudge against Bak. He just smirked at his teacher as he held up his EyePhone. "Geez teach, I thought it would be a good idea to tell Cyli about how boring this class is. I mean, get real. Everyone knows this story, everyone knows how the past impacts the future, and everyone who's anyone would score an easy A." Everyone around Skeebo laughed but the girl two seats from his right ust blushed. She was Cylindria Starseed. She had black hair with pink highlights with big red glasses that complimented her hot pink and black striped t-shirt under suspender skirt and had striped hot pink and black thigh highs with combat boots. Cylindria is Skeebo's girlfriend and is also popular only because she's with Skeebo as she was a total nobody before they started dating. Even though her boyfriend is a total bully she wasn't a bully herself in fact whenever Skeebo tried to start something with Pac in front of her she always got him to stop which only worked half of the time. Other than those times she never spoke with him which was for the best, as talking with Pac in a friendly way was enough to get you bullied and ostracized. "Skeeb, our teacher is right. Class is almost over so let's just can talk then." Cylindria smiled at him causing her boyfriend to smile too. "I guess that makes sense. Sorry teach." Skeebo apologied. Most kids along with the teacher in the room felt their hearts melt at this scene. Pacster just rolled his eyes and went back to secretly reading his book.

 

Unknown to him however the teacher saw the book inside the book. He found out on his own when big calloused hands grabbed his book and lifted it away. "Again with this? Mr. Bak you know better than to read young adult fiction during class." With that most kids in the class began to laugh. At this point almost everyone in school knew about Pacster's belief in ghosts and how he would either try to read one of his books instead of the school's or go on about their secret history if asked. Well, he wouldn't do the latter anymore but he still tried to read his books so he wouldn't have to focus on classes he found very boring. Thankfully for him, the bell started to ring before the teacher could say more.

 

Grabbing the book from the teacher's grasp, our protagonist ran out into the halls with a red face. He was majorly embarrassed and not in a good way as once again he was caught reading his ghost books. This just gave Skeebo and the others more ammo to make fun of him with. "How can I be so stupid? I should have hid it better!" He shouted as he sped past his peers and some teachers. You aren't supposed to run in the halls in school but Pac never cared about that rule. Neither did his best friend Spiral Worthington, who he saw walk out of his math class. Spiral was in the same grade as Pacster but a year older. He had dark blue and light blue dreads with purple eyes to match, a red tank top and blue jeans with matching red shoes. Spiral was a laid back guy who was cool with everyone and everything as long as he didn't find a person or act or place morally repulsive. He met Pac in middle school and ever since they've been the best of friends, even giving up most of his friends to defend Pac. Coincidentally, they were also shared a room in the dorms. "Hey Pacster! How was class? Mr. Rotund go on about that war again?" The taller boy smiled. Rotund was infamous for only teaching about the Pac-World wars and the rise of Betrayus. "Oh you know it. He even tried to take my book away, what a jerk." The orange haired boy then lifted up the book he successfully saved earning a glare from some students. "Oh no he tried to take your books again? That's no good. Not at all. At least you don't have to worry about him for a day now. The teachers here sure are the worst." Pacster and Spiral started to walk to their next period which was coincidentally Pacster's favorite: lunch.

 

**the pac is bak**

 

"Yeah I don't know why my aunt had to send me here. Makes me wish that homeschooling was legal. I bet my aunt would be a much better teacher than Rotund and Strictler. Only good teacher in this school is Mr. Dome and I don't even care for gym class, and I guess Miss Globular can be nice. It's like most of the teachers are only here so they can earn a paycheck instead of teach kids, it's messed up. Don't you think so too, Spiral?" Spiral nodded as they approached the cafeteria. They passed everyone currently in line as the bell rang to signify the beginning of the period. "Boy, the lunch ladies sure did outdo themselves today!" Pacster said as he grabbed his tray. People behind them were glaring since they cut but they didn't notice and even if they did they probably wouldn't care. Food is Pacster Bak's second hobby. He could eat an entire foodbank and he would still be hungry. In fact, there has been times where he consumed all the food in the cafeteria making his peers angry and upset. Funnily enough he never put on any weight from all the food he eats since he's at average weight for his age. Today the orange haired teen felt simple so he grabbed a cheeseburger hoagie with some strawberry milk while Spiral picked up a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with some water. "I can't believe some schools ban PB&Js just because a few kids are allergic!" Exclaimed Pac. "Well Pacster, if some kids come into contact with Peanut Butter it'll make them really sick and they might even have to go to the emergency room. You should really be considerate of others and be thankful our school is one of the few that still as food with peanut butter." Scolded Spiral. "Maybe you're right, but you know that could change any minute especially if we get a foreign exchange student. What if they're allergic?" "Well we'l just deal with it it's not like we can't go to a store and buy bread, jelly, and peanut butter." Pacster just frowned and nodded. They didn't have to pay since lunch money is part of the school's tuition so they walked to their regular table next to the fire exit door.

 

"I really don't want to go to math class, I'm not good at algebra at all and I think there's a test. Why can't we just watch movies instead?" Moaned Pac as he took a bite. He really didn't like math in fact it was his worst subject. It's a miracle he even made it up to the grade he's in. "I can let you copy off my work if want, it would suck if you had to repeat the grade while I move on and they'd probably give you a roomie that's in your grade since bunking up with someone above or below a grade is against the rules for some reason. It's the least I could do." Although the older boy really didn't like cheating he didn't want his friend to be stuck in school forever. "Hey Pac, how was history?" The boys turned to see their friend Sherry Strictler join them. Sherry wore pink hair in a ponytail and wore green jeans and a white long sleeved button up shirt. Her most obvious feature was her braces, and because of that everyone just called her braces. She was a loser like Pacster because of them and made fun of a lot. However, despite all that she had a cheery personality. "Same as usual, braces. Rotund was being himself so it was just an average history class. Oh, you probably already figured it out but he's gonna talk about Betrayus' rise to power. Again." The teen said as he looked into his friend's green eyes. Sherry had pre-modern history after lunch and wanted to know what to expect. "Well at least it's something I know, I guess." Sherry wasn't that hungry so she just had a small bag of chips. "You know if you think about it," began Spiral, "You don't need to know all this math. All you really need to survive in the real world is addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions. Maybe percentages and measurements. You don't need stuff like trig so why even force it on us? It makes zero sense!" The tall teen lifted his hands in the air for emphasis. Pacster nodded as finished his hoagie as it didn't make sense to him either. "Well Spiral there are others in this school who want to become scientists and to be one you need to know a lot of difficult math among other things. Most modern scientific discoveries didn't come about because the discoverers knew that one plus one is two, but because they made their own formulas and calculations. They were also able to test those to see if they were accurate or not. I don't think you should knock down advanced math because you don't want to put in the effort to understand it." Braces rolled her eyes, her friends could be really ignorant of the world around them sometimes. Math test or no they should really put more effort into understanding their ciricullum.

 

"NEEEEEEEEEEEEERD!" Shouted a trio of jocks as they walked past our heroes' table. Pacster and Spiral glared at them but held their tongues knowing that Braces was used to this treatment. She smiled an understanding smile at them as while she hated being picked on she also hated unnecessary drama which retaliating at them would have caused. It was unusual since the guys could be hot heads but it seems like they're heads were cool today. "A-anyway I see your point, Sher. Even though I don't like math I can appreciate what it's brought us" "Thanks, I wasn't sure if I got to you or not." The rest of lunch continued in silence until the bell rang. When it did, everyone dumped their trays and went to their next classes

 

"Well, I'm sure this day can't get any worse."

 

**the pac is back**

 

Not too far away from Maze High, an elderly man wearing a white coat was sitting in his chair in a chair in a pristine science lab the size of a garage observing a screen. If his calculations were correct, acting now could start their revolution and make the world right. Make it even better before the world was taken over if possible. The man had been watching Maze High. Watching Pacster Bak. To the uninitiated it may seem like he was a creeper but he watched this boy with his own reasons. He knew who the teen really was and what he was capable of which meant this Pacster boy could be the one to save the world. However he did have his doubts about the boy and knew if he acted too early the world's fate would be sealed. The real problem was that this was now or never as the scientist knew that there would be no going back once Betrayus set his new plans in motion. Sighing, the scientist lifted his cup of yellow coffee and took a sip.

 

"Sir Cumference, are you absolutely sure you want to go through with this now?" Another adult man stepped out of the shadows and approached the old man, AKA Sir Cumference. Both males had a stern look on their faces. "I'm honestly not sure." Sir Cumference shrugged. He put his coffee down. "We both know Betrayus is looking for the portal and we know that with his intelligence systems it's only a matter of time before it's found. I'm not gonna like forcing this stuff on the boy but we're at the point where we have no choice but to act as soon as we can. Do you think you can get the boy later?" The younger man smiled. He turned around and said, "I'll bring John and Smith with me just in case things go south. You can't really be too sure about things these days after all. Should we contact Spheria?" The scientist/doctored hummed. Looking in to the now blank screen he stayed quiet for a few minutes. "Well that's a given that she should know. He is her nephew, after all. Besides she knew this day would come so she'll be happy for him. Now if only his parents were here, Stratos. They'd probably try to keep him out of this and they'd be right to. They have his powers, well I guess that should be said the other way around. He has their powers. Is that better?" Stratos nodded and smiled. "They'd be reluctent but I'm sure that they would eventually approve. I mean they had him in this bunker after all." Stratos walked out of the room thinking about Pac's parents.

 

"The day Betrayus got Zach and Sunny was probably the worst day for the Resistance. For everyone" It looked like it was going to rain as he looked at the monitor. How fitting for his current mood.

 

**the pac is back**

 

Pac was lying on his bed. It was the lower part of a bunk bed he shared with Spiral in their dorm room. It was a medium sized room with ocean blue carpet and paper white walls. In the middle was a metal table with two chairs, this was usually used for eating and the north was the bunk bed up against the window, and next to that was a television with some game consoles both old and new with a coffee table that had a plant on it. To the south end there was the door, and 2 closets made out of rosewood. Obviously they contained Pac and Spiral's clothes. The west end had a door that led to their bathroom and to the east was a pantry and mini fridge. All in all both teens were satisfied with their room but that's not what we're supposed to be talking about here. Anyway Pac was on his bed, staring at a photo he held in his hands. In the photo, there were 3 people. A man, woman, and a baby. To be precise the two adults were Pacster's mother and father and the baby was him. The woman had blonde hair and blue eyes and was laying in a hospital bed in a green hospital gown while the father who also had blonde hair but green eyes was wearing a brown suit and red tie was holding the newborn in a white blanket. They all looked so happy. You see, Pac's parents had disappeared shortly after the picture was taken and no one could find them. Some said their disappearance had to do with the anti-blonde laws passed at the same time Pacster was born but no one truly knows the truth. All he knew is that his parents are missing and that everyone had given up on them even his aunt, who is his mother's sister. But our young hero knew in his heart of hearts that his parents were still alive out there. Sighing, Pacster put the picture down and groaned. "It's not fair. Everyone else has parents that love them and try to be there for them no matter what, why did mom and dad have to go away? Even Skeebo has parents like that, so what did I do wrong?" He hid his face inside his pillow.

 

"Hey Pacster, you look down. Don't tell me you're obsessing over your parents again? It's not healthy. Besides, it's not like they'll pop out of whatever hole they've been hiding in for most of your life". Spiral stopped as he opened up the room door. The older boy just realized he said something insensitive. Pacster responded with another groan and turned away. There was now an awkward silence that lasted for a few minutes. During this silence, Spiral took off his shoes and sat at the table regretting what he said. "Sorry man, since I've had my parents my whole life I can't really put myself in your shoes. Didn't mean to hurt you emotionally like that."

 

You see, all of Pacster's classmates had their parents. Every single one of them which made him the odd one out and a target for bullying. Having lived with only his aunt the other kids thought that was the most hilarious thing ever in kindergarten and the first few years of his schooling. Thankfully it died down but it does get mentioned once in a blue moon, so Spiral should be thankful Pac didn't break off their friendship for that one. "It's fine Spiral I know this won't solve anything. Sometimes I just think about what could have been like if I would be a different person had they been in my life or if having them would make me popular. " It was nice to think about what could've been. However, the taller teen just remembered an important thing he wanted to tell his roomie. "Oh, so I was thinking that we could go venture out into the maze tonight. We've been talking about it a lot lately and apparently there's been a few ghost sightings there. Don't worry I've made sure that those weren't rumors made by Skeeb the dweeb to lure you out. These are real, genuine ghost sightings by people who don't even believe in ghosts although I'm pretty sure most people don't believe in 'em. So, you game?" That seemed to ease the mood a little since Pac grew a smile and looked at him. Words did not needed to be said, as the tall teen understood what that face meant. As long as Pacster had his ghosts, he didn't need to angst over his mom and dad.

 

Maze 256 is the largest natural hedge maze on the planet. It was left mostly untouched for the simple fact that helicopters flew over it and found nothing of interest and because the school felt that it was iconic enough to attract tourists and potential students. By untouched, I mean that there were no guards patrolling it and there were no groundskeepers trimming it. The Maze was one of the wonders of the world and was the largest natrual mazes on Pac-World in fact Maze Highschool was built right next to it which is where the school got its name. Only teachers of Maze High had the keys to open it but that didn't stop students from sneaking in anyway by lockpicking or simply going through entry points in the fields. The latter was the most popular method and the method that Spiral was planning to use since it would be easier and guilt-free.

 

"We'll pack some things up in case we get lost, like a first aid kit, three water bottles, two flashlights, two bags of chips, a blanket, oh and make sure to put on your hiking boots. Lets see here... I think that should be everything, the night is supposed to be clear so we have no fears about the rain. Let's get going, Pacster!

 


	2. The Mysterious Maze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two best friends sneak into the maze, but of course someone has to ruin the fun.

Not too far away from Maze High was the city of Betrayopolis and at its center of it lay a brightly lit up skyscraper that reached into the clouds. On the 100th floor a rather bored man was sitting at his gold-plated desk in his office playing around with the pens on said desk. He had finished all of his paperwork for the day and thought he deserved a break since it wasn't easy ruling the whole world. "Yeah, let the professor in. We need to discuss something...majorly important. So important he probably already knows what. So important you don't need to know." He sighed and got up off his fancy red chair. Secretaries always seemed to want to know more than what their pay-grade allowed them to, he should really consider replacing Mavis. Betrayus heard a knock on his door. "I'm coming in" said a loud german voice on the other side. It was none other than Professor Buttocks, second in command of Betrayus' world order.

 

"Ah, you're earlier than I expected." The dictator smirked. Usually Buttocks was punctual and on time meaning that he was never late or early which meant that this was special to him. "Well, yes. That iz because of today's topic, the repository. I have not found the location of it nor have I come up with a way on how to control. Rest assured that I have many intelligence officers, civilian intelligence committees and universities on the search. We shall have the repository by the end of the year I can assure you." Betrayus looked at the window and smiled while combing his ear-length black hair with red tips. The dictator was wearing his own version of Napoleon's favorite uniform but replace the blues with black and the white with reds. The gold shoulder pads were still the same and on his left breast he wore four medals, each unique as a ginger bread man. His red eyes looked over at his second-in-command and said, "Good. If the stories about this thing are true, then soon our army will be unbelievably large. We will be unstoppable since not even the resistance can defeat all of the world's ghosts let alone one then soon the entire world will be mine, but why should I stop there? With a ghost army and your...smarts we can take over the universe!" Betrayus started to laugh evilly and maniacally while professor Buttocks watched with a smirk behind his mustache. The top of the professor's head was shaped like that of a butt henceforth the name. The area around his butthead was covered with white hair that was unkempt and dirty. He wore a white lab coat with a messy white undershirt and black pants. Oh, and he was also 4''5. It was a while since he'd seen his superior like this.

 

"Truth be told at first I thought that the repository was just some myth made by ancient people who were too dumb to understand anything. Yet when I looked deeper into it something didn't make sense. All ancient cultures describe this human sized rainbow cylinder that contained a portal to the world of the dead. Now I would have looked this over as a coincidence had this myth not be so widespread and ancient, in fact cultures who have had no contact with each other whatsoever speak of this rainbow colored thing. Some ancient people even believed that he who had the cylinder could control the world inside, and thus the spirits were his to command. Such a useful item, if it does exist." Betrayus looked out of the window at the city below and imagined ghosts mixed in with the citizens. Or perhaps they would possibly be mindless enough to only be used as soldiers. Really, he had no way of knowing if the ghosts would truly be his to command or if they would have wills of their own alongside wants and needs.

 

Professor Buttocks did a fake cough, something the dictator knew the old man always did when he felt the need to speak up.

 

"There is another reason why I have come early. I've heard rumors from my underlings at the university today that the resistance once had the repository. Said underlings are currently under investigation for having possible connections to your brother and his dogs. However I also hear that they got rid of it not too long ago. A lead is a lead after all. We capture one of them, we possibly end up with the repository before the end of the year."

 

**the pac is back**

 

Three A.M.. Possibly the most bleakest time of the night and the beginning of the witching hour. Of course, Pacster also believed in witches while most people didn't. However Pacster wasn't looking for a witch. He and Spiral were going to look for ghosts which in my opinion are scarier than witches because ghosts can look disfigured and demonic and could kill you in many ways. You could see all of the stars of the sky which is nice and there was a full moon out so it wasn't as dark as one would fear.

 

Both Pacster and Spiral found sneaking out of their dorms to be ridiculously easy. There were only two adults on nightwatchmen duty and that was Mr. Orbus for the boys dorm and Mrs. Chipper for the girls dorm but they take turns patrolling the classrooms, halls, and other rooms and the outside. Thankfully the duo hadnt run into either so far. The bright blue and white halls of the school were gloomy and dark. "So far so good." Spiral whispered. Both he and Pac were quietly walking on the sides of the hall in the dark hoping that they don't step on anything that would make a noise. "We're almost to the main hall just follow me." The taller teen commanded. The orangette nodded and followed swiftly. He didn't see the pencil by his foot however and tripped after nodding and landed on his butt. "Are you okay buddy, you need to be more careful!" Spiral ran over to his best friend and helped him back up. Both boys looked around to see if anyone heard Pac trip but it seemed that no one did. They resumed andonly a few steps later were at the door they needed to be at.

 

The lights in the main hall were still on, and both boys were worried that the janitor may still be working. "Should we try another way? I've heard that there are security cameras hidden here and they might be on at night." Our future hero said in a worried voice. Suddenly he felt nervous and the realization of breaking the rules had just hit him. There could be serious consequences not just for this but for entering the maze without permission. "Just leaving our room without a pass is enough to get us into some major trouble so we might as well go all the way." Before the orangette could protest, they heard footsteps. It was the janitor. "Hello?" He said looking around as he sworn that he heard a voice. The janitor probably had to do some overtime which is why he was still there. Both Pac and Spiral put their hands on each others mouths and backed into the corner next to the trophy case praying that they wouldn't be seen. Footsteps could be heard going towards their way which made both teens break into a nervous sweat. Thankfully for them the janitor went into the door on the other side of the trophy case. Spiral and Pac wiped sweat off their faces. "Man was that close. I thought my heart was gonna jump outta my chest." Pacster whispered. After taking a quick breather the duo silently ran to the main doors hoping no one unexpected would sneak up on them.

 

"Whew, we made it. I can't believe we made it this far how am I so lucky?" Boasted Spiral. They took a breather and then went on their way to the entrance doors without any disturbance.

 

Maze High's entrance was eerily dark with no souls in sight. Breathing in the fresh air, our heroes walked down the steel blue stairs while keeping an eye on their surroundings. If someone saw them it would definitely be over and while both Pacster and Spiral wanted to go into the maze the punishment wouldn't be worth it, at least in Pacster's opinion. Spiral was much more of a risk taker although the orangette assumed that it came with the athletic interests since you can get injured badly while doing them. Pac himself was a little scrawny and thin, but not too thin. He had no interest in sports although that wasn't really relevant to the current situation. They reached the end of the stairs and tip-toed across the road. It was a cool night, not too cold and definitely not too warm. Finally, they've reached their destination. Maze 256.

 

"This is the moment we've been waiting for bro. You ready?" Spiral said smiling in the moonlight. You could tell how excited he was but at the same time Pac could see nervousness underneath his friend's smile. People have gone missing in this maze and it is very possible that they could be next but if he could see at least one real ghost then it would be worth it. "I was born ready."

 

**the pac is back**

 

"I mean don't get me wrong I love Skeebs but I hate how he treats certain people. He can be sweet, funny, romantic, and loving, but his bullying days really need to end. He seriously needs to grow up." Cylindria was pacing back in forth while talking to herself in her dormroom. She was lucky enough to end up with a single room although if the dorms ran out of room that would change. Right now she was pondering her relationship with her boyfriend, Skeebo. While she did take it more seriously than most girls her age would Cyli really wanted things with Skeebo to work out with them ending up getting married. Yeah, she was that kind of girl. However Skeebos attitude towards some of her classmates was turning her off and away from him. After all, who wants to get married to a huge bully? "Maybe I'm being waaaaay too harsh on him, no that's what I should be saying regarding him and that orange haired guy, Paul I think? But that isn't the point. I love him dearly but-"

 

She was cut off by the sound of knocking on her door. Gasping, she put her hands to her mouth and silently prayed that no one heard a word of what she was saying. "Y-yes? Who is it?" The teen walked to the door hoping it wasn't her boyfriend but opening the door she found that that's exactly who it was. "Hey babe, sounds like you were arguing with someone I hope you aren't cheating on me." Although it was a joke it made Cylindria feel embarrassed. "Did you hear any of that?" Looking at the jock's joyful face made her feel like he hadn't but she needed to be sure. "Not really. So anyways Loophole overheard Spiral talking to braceface saying that he and orange juice were going to the Maze tonight so he, me, and Car-Los are gonna spook 'em. We're gonna dress up in sheets and show him what a real ghost looks like. Wanna come?" His girlfriend frowned as this was exactly what she was talking to herself about. Actually perhaps this was the best opportunity for her to talk to Skeebo about her concerns. Yes this is actually good timing! "So Skeebie, we need to talk." The girl could feel the butterflies in her stomach. This. Was. It.

 

"Sure babe but can it wait? We're missing a golden opportunity, or should I say orange opportunity?" Before the 14 year old could reply Skeebo grabbed her hand and and ran to his friends waiting for him in the halls.

 

Loophole and Car-Los already had their white sheets on. "Yo dude this is gonna be so epic. Loophole here even brought his phone so we can record the thing and look fondly back on Puckster crapping his pants. We should post this on the school's wall that's how epic this is." Car-Los was the only friend of Skeebo's Cylindria despised because of how cruel he could be. In fact she was sure he was the one encouraging her skeebie to be a bully. Car-Los was seven feet tall, easily the most tallest student in Maze High. He had red hair shaved to a buzz cut, and red eyes to match. He was always wearing his jersey. "Did you bring a sheet for Cyli?" "Um no thanks. Skeebs, we should really talk-" Cylindria began but was cut off. "Can it wait? We're busy here." She could hear the laughter of Car-Los. The fact that Skeebo did nothing to stop him really hurt. "Anyways, we need to hurry who knows if they'll give up." Loophole was as tall as Skeebo, but had brown hair styled in an undercut with lime green eyes. He also wore his jersey everywhere. The teenage girl liked Loophole, usually he was nice but when it came to Pacster his personality did a 360.

 

This was going to be a long night.

 

**the pac is back**

 

Twenty minutes has passed since Spiral and Pac entered Maze 256 and they still haven't found any ghosts. They had their flashlights on and were walking slowly so no ghosts would be surprised. "Ah, another dead end. I guess we really should have went at that last turn. Whoops." Spiral said nonchalantly. Pacster however was determined. This could be his moment to find a real, existing ghost how could he not be determined? "Let's go then. So about those rumors about the ghosts, tell me about them!" Demanded the teen. Smirking, the older teen started scratching his nose. "Well Pac earlier today I was walking by the girls bathroom in hall A-2. Now this was after first period so I was on my way to class. Oddly enough that hall was almost empty looking back I think only two other students where in there with me but anyway these two girls walk out of the bathroom. Looked like seniors but they were being very loud so the only way I couldn't listen was to stick fingers in my ears. They were talking about how this girl in their class named Recta went into the maze about a month ago on a dare she got while playing truth or dare where Recta needed to spend the entire night in the maze so she went into the maze and apparently at three AM she saw... a ghost!" Spiral held the flashlight under his chin causing the yellow light to obscure some of his face is shadows, causing a spooky effect on his expressionless face. Pacster held his hand over his mouth in shock, walking backwards into one of the hedge bushes. "An actual real ghost and it looked like an adult male, but he was transparent and blue. Yes, blue. The girl screamed and ran back to her dorms however ran into Chipper. They say they had the police investigate the maze however they found no trace of anybody. So that's the rumor what do you think?" Spiral and Pacster had already went past the point where they made the wrong turn and were back on their path.

 

"Well, judging by my knowledge of ghosts it sounds like he died from drowning. They say if a ghost is blue it's because they've drowned so it may be possible he drowned in the pool or perhaps even in a nearby lake. Some mazes have lakes or ponds in them so maybe he had an accident in one of those but I've never heard of any deaths in our school. Ever. And trust me, I would know about any deaths that happened at school since that is my hobby after all." Spiral's eyes got big and the larger boy took a step back causing Pac to roll his eyes. "C'mon, you know I didn't mean it like that." A lot of students found the orangette's hobby to be pretty morbid which was part of the reason why they avoided him. Some would even use it against him and call him names. It did bother Pac but not enough to get him to stop his hobby.

 

"Sorry buddy. It's just the way you phrased it. Anyways it looks like there's another fork in the road, which way do you think we should go?" Before Pacster could respond both teen boys heard something move in the bushes and got into a defensive position. This is it, thought Pac. This is really it but why am I so scared? Should we make the first move? Before our hero could finish that thought, the noise in the bushes stopped. "I'll go check the bush." Spiral had Pacster stand behind his back in a protective way and walked towards the bushes, trembling. He reached his hands in the bush, groping around for anything or anyone however decided that after a few minutes whatever was in there was gone. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Whatever that was its gone, so let-"

 

"BOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

 

Jumping out of the hedge behind them were three solid white ghosts. "Ahhhhh!" Screamed Pac, falling over on his butt. His older friend walked backwards his heart pounding in absolute fear. Suddenly Pac got up and starting to run hoping that his best friend was right behind him however said friend was too frozen by fear to move.

 

Spiral on the other hand got up and wore a frown. Looking closely at the ghosts the 25 year old realized that ghosts didn't wear bed-sheets as skin as he remembered that people used to cover themselves in bed-sheets for the no longer celebrated day known as Halloween. This could only mean one thing. "Okay the jig is up, take off those sheets! Ghosts are people shaped and transparent, there has been no case where they cover in white generic bed-sheets. In fact I can smell the sweat on you jock. Or should I say, Skeebo." The "ghosts" threw off their white shell of blanket and lo and behold it really was Skeebo Heebo and his football team goons. Indeed, Spiral was mad. No way he could have known about tonight. "Are you guys kidding me?"

 

The hero of this story of course did not hear this conversation nor did he hear it, as he was running through the large, mostly untouched maze. Fear was controlling his mind as he relentlessly ran, turn by turn, fork by fork, it wasn't long until he tripped on a rock and fell over face-planting on the floor. Groaning in pain Pacster begun to get up as sanity returned to him making him realize he had abandoned his best bro to a bunch of ghosts. "Oh no, I can't believe I left Spiral there he must be so scared. I'm such a terrible friend." He kicked the rock that tripped him. Darkness surrounded the boy. He must have dropped his flashlight while running! "This night just keeps getting worse and worse. Might as well make it back to Spiral sooner than later, hopefully he isn't that mad at me. Now I just have to figure out how to get back to him." Pacster unhappily sighed as he began walking forward. The moon was covered by a cloud explaining the darkness how could he not realize that until now?

 

The night trailed on, and Pacster started to believe that he was somehow even more lost as he kept walking. Before the orangette could curse his bad luck he noticed an oddly shaped stone in the center of a fork. "This thing looks a perfect dome. Yeah it looks like something you'd see in front of a rich person's lawn especially with the crystal white color it has. Isn't this place supposed to be mostly untouched? Or maybe someone dropped it but why carry a large rock like this when you're going maze exploring? It has to bee at least three foot wide." Approaching the rock our future hero hit it three times at its top. "Feels hollow." It was like hitting an empty pot. "I'm probably wasting time here. Or maybe I'm just distracting myself from my colossal screw-up. Oh well what doesn't hurt me makes me stronger." Not knowing what got into himself Pac lifted up the rock slowly to reveal a secret entrance into the ground. He had a shocked look on his face. "What...is this? Is this even supposed to be here?" A million ideas went throughout his over-reactive imagination. What if it was a bad guy's lair? Or a shortcut to the beginning of the maze? Or maybe a hobo's secret stash? So many possibilities. "Well you never know until you try." Luckily enough there was a ladder leading down into the dark abyss. "Whatever is down here I hope it doesn't kill me." All of a sudden the night sky grew dark as clouds started to cover it.

 

Climbing down the ladder was easy enough however wherever it led to was pitch black. Pacster took a few steps forward, hoping to run into a light switch. Thankfully enough all of a sudden the lights turned on. What the lights revealed was a tunnel, almost like the sewers but no water to be found whatsoever. "Hello? Anyone there? My name is Pacster Bak and I'm lost. I need to get out of the maze." Of course no one responded. Sighing, Pac walked through the tunnel for a few minutes until coming across a door that opened by itself. No, it didn't open by itself actually. An elderly man wearing a lab coat opened it with wide eyes.

 

"Did you say your name was Pacster Bak?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as you may have figured out this isn't just a Human AU but a "What if Betrayus won the war" AU. I wanted to be subtle about it in the story so I dropped hints here and there. Another thing I'm concerned about is that my writing isn't the best so when I'm a better writer I plan on re-writing the first few chapters.


	3. A Tree For Thee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first part of a history lesson.

"What is your problem with Pacster, Skeebo? Why do you and your goonies go out of the way to harass my best bro and hurt him? What did he ever do to you Skeebo, what did he ever do to you?" Spiral threw his hands in the air enraged. This had always happened whenever Skeebo or his friends heard him and Pacster talk about doing something fun or going out. They would always go out of their way to either humiliate or harass them in public as if ruining their social lives at school wasn't enough. Well the dark skinned teen had enough. "Maybe if he wasn't such a weirdo he wouldn't get bullied. Just something to think about." Loophole replied coldly.

 

It must have been five minutes since Pacster ran away and the only who was trying to diffuse the situation was poor Cylindria who stood between both sides trying her best to calm everyone down. The entire way to the maze she kept begging her boyfriend to reconsider doing this and that his cruel ways need to end but he had ignored her the entire way while his friends (mostly Car-Los) kept making fun of her. Right before the trio would do their cruel prank she tripped on a branch, unable to warn the victims. By the time she got up it was too late as she heard the loud "Boo". "Skeebie please! That kid is probably all lost, scared and alone. You've done enough and you need to make this up to him." Cyli crossed her arms and had a sad look on her face. "Do you see what we mean when we talk badly about your girl, Skeebo? She's just a stick in the mud who never grew up in a real house why are you still with her?" Shouted Car-Los. The blue haired jock himself flinched not in hurt but in embarrassment. "Wait Skeebo how do they know about that? Didn't you promise that you'd keep that secret? How could you!" The only girl in this mess felt tears begin to form. You see Cylindria grew up in a tree house in the middle of a faraway forest with her family only coming to Maze High after the government found out that a bunch of hippies were raising a child in the middle of no where. She was always aware of how strange her upbringing was so it was one of her most well guarded secrets until now. "Wow Skeebo you deserve 'boyfriend of the year'" snarked Spiral. It seems that the conversation took a turn for the worse.

 

While his girlfriend's heart started to crumble Skeebo looked down at the ground. "Look do you know how weird it is to know that your girlfriend lived in a tree without any normal people contact for half of her life? You act normal enough and that's great but knowing all the weird things about you that I do how can I not tell." He raised his hand to scratch his head still looking at the ground. The jock knew this would probably be the end of their relationship but he spoke how he truly felt. Before the shocked girlfriend could speak, Spiral spoke up and said "In all honesty I don't care about your relationship drama even though I kinda find it funny how heartless you can be to the ones you supposedly now I need you to help me find Pacster. If you refuse? Well I'll have to report this to the school board since a missing student is a pretty big deal and who knows you may even lose your spot in the football team. Maybe then you'll understand the gravity of this situation." Of course Spiral didn't want it to come to that.

 

Suddenly Loophole shoved Spiral into the bushes with a pissed looked on his face. Both Car-Los and Skeebo looked shocked while Cylindria rushed to Spiral's aid. "Hey you better nor be planning to mess with my boy Skeebs you loser. You think that just because your parents are hot shots back in Betrayopolis that you can walk all over HIM? THE MOST POPULAR GUY IN SCHOOL? What a joke, spinal. Being from one of the richest families in the world and you waste time on losers like Pacster instead of hanging with the normal people. What a waste." Had Cyli not been there shielding his victim Loophole would have stomped on the fallen teen. Since he couldn't hurt Spiral the bully settled for doing a mean glare instead. "Spinal, heh, what a good one!" Laughed Car-Los. Cylindria scowled at tge redhead. Were these people really the ones she hung out with?

 

"Tell me why. I want to know why you all go out of your way to hurt Pacster." Cylindria said in a soft but stern voice. The response was not one she expeted. "Because," began Car-Los, "His hair is naturally blonde. I saw his real roots one day while he and I showered after gym class."

 

**the pac is back**

 

"Pacster I thought the day I'd see you again would be very far off. My you have grown! Last time I saw you you were so tiny!" The elderly man's face broke into a huge grin. He had to at least be a head taller than Pac which meant he was 5'6. However our protag was very confused since he did not remember the old man ever and even though his memories of his parents were very faint and in them this guy was not. "So uh, do I know you? You're acting familiar with me and you even know my name and everything." Pacster scratched the back of his head in confusion. "Just in case you run into this situation again and it isn't a person you know just remember that you yelled out your name beforehand. But yes I do know you in fact I knew your parents too we were close comrades. Come with me and I tell you everything you need to know about them and this world." He held up his left hand in a matter of showing him something but it was just a gesture.

 

Now this was a shock to our future hero. This old man knew Zac and Sunny Bak? All he knew from what his aunt told him is that they were killed since they were apart of the anti-betrayus resistance remnants and that they loved him very much. Aunt Spheria wouldn't tell him more than that yet from the look on her face whenever it came up it seemed that there was so much more she wanted to say yet it was as if she couldn't like she wasn't allowed to say anything more. Perhaps this man could tell him more about them. Perhaps... his parents may not be dead after all! Pacster always wanted to believe they were out there somewhere waiting for him to find them. "Hey mister uh...what's your name?" Asked Pacster. "I am Sir Cumference. You can call me Sir C for short. Yep, I was a knight back when those were a thing and I am now a scientist working for the resistance. THE resistance in case you didn't hear that right." THE resistance? Now while Pac didn't pay all that much attention in history class he knew the jist of who they are. The resistance were a group of anti-Betrayus terrorists who despise the peace of the world and would do anything in their power to destroy it. Zac and Sunny were in this group for unknown reasons. Most of the resistance has been taken care of and that only remnants of it remain. These three facts were all he knew about them thanks to his aunt and no thanks to history class. Suddenly the teen felt his heart grow heavy, was this Sir going to hurt him?

 

"The resistance? B-b-but you're a bunch of terrorists. What would you want with me?" Asked the protag of this story. This show of fear caused a sigh to come out of the old man. "That is part of the reason why you need to follow me. Come boy we have a lot to talk about." Deciding that he didn't want to be alone in this tunnel Pacster did indeed follow him. Inside the door was an even narrower tunnel with wires on the walls. It looked like it would be another way to the other side. "I admit I am shocked to hear you call us terrorists. Never had I expected Spheria to allow you to consume propaganda in fact I'm very disappointed in her although she must have her reasons." Pacster didn't like how Sir C was talking about his aunt and started walking ahead. "You talk about aunt Spheria as if you know her." he said. "Well this is also going to come as a shock but your aunt was also a part of the resistance. She gave up after your parents went MIA to raise you but that isn't what I want to talk to you about." They kept walking down the dimly lit hall, with no end in sight. "The resistance is not what you have been led to believe they are and the same goes for Betrayus. There is so much about this world that you do not know"

 

"For instance, I will begin telling you the tale of how Betrayus' rebellion actually began."

 

**the pac is back**

 

It was 60 years ago in the city of Old-Pacopolis. A 18 year old boy with long black hair with red highlights was playing tennis against a 17 year old girl with orange curly hair. They were being watched by many, many people. It was a tournament so of course a lot of people were watching. The battle was fierce but hilariously one-sided. The boy tried his hardest but he missed almost all of the tennis balls while the girl flawlessly hit almost every single ball. It ended 50 to 05 with Spheria Suprema as the winner and Betrayus Spheros as the loser. The crowd cheered on for the victor but the loser broke down in tears and fell into a fetal position crying. Everyone watching him felt second-hand embarrassment.

 

The victor's younger sister approached her. "Wow, I don't think you've ever had such an easy victory before. Congrats!" The teen named spheria smiled at her. Spheria was wearing white tennis shirt and skirt but had light green fingerless gloves on. "Well Sunny it wasn't like Betrayus put any effort into it. You know he's never played major leagues before. If he wasn't such an ass I'd feel sorry for him." Sunny had long blonde hair in a ponytail and wore a black shirt with a blue poodle skirt. She also had on a pink ascot. "Well that's true. He doesn't put in any effort for anything and he can be a bit of a bully. Hopefully the next guy can give you a challenge. Anyways do you want to go get some ice cream when you're done? Stratos will be there and he's bringing a friend too!" Sunny giggled while Spheria rolled her eyes. "Come on, you know I don't want a boyfriend right now. Anyway I need to get ready for my next match so I'll see you then." The older sister waved as she left oblivious to the younger's pout.

 

Betrayus Spheros was still crying in fetal position on the tennis field and was eventually forcibly removed hours after the match.

 

**the pac is back**

 

"Wait, Betrayus went up against my aunt in a tennis tournament? Wow! I can't believe he broke down like that you don't hear about that in history class." Pacster laughed. His own aunt schooled the ruler of the world in a tennis match, what are the chances? "Wait, what does that have to do with Pac-World war I?" He said in earnest confusion. "Well that was the catalyst for all of the events that followed. Somehow that tournament broke good ol' Betrayus and caused him to want change on a societal scale. Now he always had issues like that like that time he had a meltdown because he couldn't get any easter eggs. I'll tell you that one in due time. Anyway that was the year Betrayus graduated and after he graduated he entered both politics and the army. Now he was both a soldier and a politician. First he started small time by running for mayor but had to leave in the fight for the Pac-Lombian territories. He came back from that one a general and was well respected by his men. Same goes for his politics career he won over almost everyone in Old-Pacopolis. This was all in the span of 5 years. At that time five people met together."

 

**the pac is back**

 

Four people sat at a table in a dimly lit dining room. They were Spheria Suprema, Sunny Suprema, Zac Bak, and the newly knighted Sir Cumferance. "So now that we're all here there's something that needs to be discussed. I consider it to be an elephant in the room for most of the world. Well, before that I'd like to thank all of you for showing up here today. Sorry if meeting here in my dining room is lame." Started Zac. "Well it beats Sir C's garage, that's for sure." Said Spheria. "Hear hear! Anyways when I say elephant in the room I mean Betrayus. As we all have grown up with him I can say with 100% efficiency is that he is not the charming heroic man he claims to be. There is also the fact of how fast he's rising to power. No one reaches the rank of general in the span of a two year war. No one becomes loved by an etire town that fast either. His policies are popular but they won't last long term. It's obvious he's cooking up something and we need to figure out what." Zac slammed his fist on the table. Knowing Betrayus, it wasn't good. He was always a bit of a sociopath so who knows who he'll hurt once he's at the top.

 

Sunny raised her hand. "Zac I'm as worried as you but please don't break your table. We'll find answers and fix this. You know now that I think about it Betrayus never cared about the military or politics when we knew him. His main interest was ghosts. Oh, and tennis but we all know how that one ended up." Everyone in the room smiled at that memory. It was probably the best moment regarding Betrayus in their lives. "That's right didn't he want to beome a ghost researcher? I mean is that even a thing?" Asked a new voice who was opening the door. It was Stratos Spheros. He brought pizza.

 

After everyone grabbed a slice the meeting continued but no one came to a conclusion on what Betrayus was planning so they formed a group called the resistance right then and there. It's main purpose at that time was to monitor the enemy.

 

**the pac is back**

 

"The pizza was pretty good. It was a good old fashioned pepperoni and cheese in fact I can taste it as if it was yesterday." The old man rubbed his belly as he nostalgia'd. Pac was amused at how passionate his father seemed to be. Most people in the world didn't care about anything unless it effected them yet it seems like Zac cared a little too much about things. "So that's how the resistance came to be? So it started as a media watchdog group. Wow." They kept walking down the corridor still with no door in sight. However the wires seemed to be more in number. "Yep. Anyways it would be a few months until ol' Betrayus made his first land grab move. At that point in time all of us knew things would escalate into violence so we started stocking up on weapons and began recruiting underground. In fact the original founder of Maze High was a member in fact he's the one who had this underground facility built." Pacster stopped, face in shock. "I go to Maze High! It has a new owner now, though. What happened to the founder?" "Dead. He was killed right before Pac-World War II and his son took over. Now his son had no relation to us so I guess he had no problems with having propaganda taught to students. Oh well." They continued their walk.

 

"So now we are at what really started the first Pac-World War. As you were probably taught Betrayus made a bold move to claim the city-state of Pac-Tokyo to liberate it or some other hoo-ha. Well that isn't how it went down. Betrayus is greedy and wanted more land and used the excuse that there was a drug epidemic and that it needed to be liberated to be saved. Of course at that time Pac-Tokyo was a Pac-Mecca for electronics and electronic accessories, so the citizens had no idea why there were soldiers and tanks invading all of a sudden. I'm sure you're aware that those who resisted were killed or did they tell you they were locked up? 'Cause if that's so most of them were killed. Most of the survivors who didn't surrender joined the resistance." "It was the first of many, many tragedies to come. I'll never forget it."

 

**the pac is back**

 

May 20th, 5177. A day that would go down in history as the beginning of the first Pac-World war and the most bloodiest day in Pac-Tokyo. It started off as any old Saturday, most of the tourists swarmed the streets with bags in hand while the locals went about their daily lives and duties. Couples were enjoying the sunny day while kids played free from school. None of these happy people would dare imagine about what would transpire in a few hours and Atmos Spheros was one of those people.

 

Atmos was a young five year old girl who loved doing the things girls her age did and on this day she was in the front yard paying with her new dog Yeller who as the name suggests was yellow. The girl had two brothers who were way older than her and were always away so she barely knew them. Atmos had no friends to speak of. Her home was located near the Pac-Tokyo playground whicih she could go to at anytime and anytime was today. On her way there she heard very loud sirens which she was not taught meant so she assumed it was the sky-scrapers screaming. The young girl went on her way to her favorite spot until she saw a bunch of people running her way in panic and fear from what looked like a fire. She stood there wondering what was going on and holding onto her dog making sure he didn't run off with the people now behind her. Atmos would regret not running with those people for the rest of her life.

 

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

 

What sounded like an explosion came from the direction everyone was running from. Of course the pink-haired girl didn't understand what that was and thought those were only in movies so she just stood there, paralyzed in fear. The all of a sudden she lost her grasp on Yeller who took advantage of the situation and ran the same way everyone else did. "What's going on?" She asked out loud of course no one around her answered the question so she walked towards the sound. "What is that? I never saw that before." What looked like a giant black but heavy car rolled right in front of her from the fire and oddly enough there was a telescope looking object attached to the top front. "DON'T MOVE!" The car spoke to her. Even if she wasn't frozen in fear she would have obeyed however she didn't voice her agreement. Smoke covered the sky and it became hard to breathe with cinders also in the air. She could hear the screams of many different people in the background and before she could blink, men came out of the vehicle taking her into custody.

 

Later on that day  she would learn that most people that were running away were killed or put into camps and that the Pac-Tokyo she grew up in would never be the same.

 

**the pac is back**

 

Pacster and Sir Cumference approached a door but stopped. The tale he had just learned from the older man was too disturbing to put into words. "That girl is Betrayus' and Stratos' younger sister. What she experienced that day was something no child should go through but sadly there are many out there who share her story." The Sir looked at Pac with a stern face. He figured that the teen wasn't told the gory details about what happened on what was known as Bloody Saturday. "That was what caused the first Pac-World War. Now I have so much to tell you, open up your eyes about the world but I must show you what is inside here. It is one of the gifts you're parents left for you." The orangette gulped as Sir C opened the door. He had to hold his hands to his eyes as the light from the newly opened door blinded him but that was mostly because of how dim the tunnel was. "Yeah the light is pretty difficult to get used to at first but it's actually neccessary. The light sustains the life of something the resistance has worked very hard to protect in fact it's why we stopped focusing on that emo looking dictator. Step in and find out what I'm talking about." And our hero did such.

 

The room Pacster stepped into was very bright but even with all the light he could make out what looked like a huge tree in the middle. "No way it can't be...I was told that it wasn't real..." It took a few seconds but the light started to fade which meant Pacster could get a better look at the room but there was no mistaking the tree in the middle of the large room. It looked like a willow tree however there were what looked berries growing from it's branches. Each berry looked unique, just like a snowflake. They were different shades of red, blue, purple, yellow, green, and black and appeared to be the size of a golf ball. In fact the tree itself must have been at least 40 feet tall! "What you are looking at, is in fact the tree of life. I don't want to hear whatever they told you about it because it's obviously right in front of you and seeing is believing. The tree of life if what your parents worked so hard to protect or should I say most of us at the resistance. Isn't she beautiful?" Now that he could get a look at the room, he saw that it looked like a greenhouse with artificial light coming from the top. There was a garden hose right near the door he came from which looked recently used. Needless to say he was very surprised.

 

"You know there are actually two of these trees. One is a baby being cultivated by your aunt. You probably have seen it, it should be sprouting berries by now." Of course Pac was too enamored by the tree to pay attention to his elder. The light coming from the lights made the tree look so heavenly. "Well, it seems like you're a bit too preoccupied so we'll talk about this later. There is someone else who wants to meet you." Now this got Pacster's attention. "Who?" As soon as he asked this, the door on the opposite side opened. "Me. My name is Stratos Spheros and I have waited a very long time for this day."

 

A man in a black suit with combed black hair walked towards our hero. His brown eyes piercing Pac's. "We have so much to discuss, but first there is something I must ask. You have blond hair, there is no argument about this." Of course Pacster had no idea how to react. Being blond/blonde was illegal and had a severe punishment so he and his aunt hid his true hair color. "I-I-Its.. well you see... I..." The boy was speechless. His orange hair came from a very special hair dye that lasted for months on end. Usually he could do a home visit where Spheria would help dye his hair when it started to lose it's orange color and thankfully no one had noticed. "No one is going to hurt you here that I can assure you. This is the safest spot for you in the world." Hearing this caused the teen to cry with tears slowly coming out from his eyes. "It's going to be okay, Pacster. It's going to be okay." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personally my favorite part was writing Sir C he's a very fun guy to write same goes for Cylindria.


	4. Containment Breach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pacster's clumsiness will be the death of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, we're at the current chapter. Now this will get updated alongside the fanfiction.net one.

"What are you talking about? Pacster's as natural as orange as they come!" Spiral said in a aggressive but defensive tone. Defiling his best bro's name like this would not stand. "Maybe you had something in your eye or perhaps you're going colorblind but I can guarantee as his roomie and best friends for two years that he isn't blond. You should know how serious spreading a rumor like that can be, Car-Los." The other just crossed his arms in response. "Two years isn't enough to completely know somebody." Was all the jock said. Loophole was the only person the redhead had told which meant both Skeebo and Cylindria were left in the dark about this. "Wait how are you so certain? I mean we all know that there are no blondes left. I mean Betrayus even went as far as eliminating the gene from the human race there is just no way he's blonde no one could get past that kind of system." Cylindria was shocked since as Pac looked so plain that he wasn't hiding anything. In fact she never took any notice of him because of how plain he is. "I'm gonna need some concrete evidence before believing this, same goes for you right Skeebie?" Skeebo however was too shocked to respond. "Exactly you have no proof!"

 

Spiral was getting mad. Was this the real reason why Pacster was bullied, because of some stupid rumor? "That is it Car-Los! Fight me like a man since you're too afraid to fight Pac head on!" The older boy ran into the bully with all his force, thus starting a fight.

 

**the pac is back**

 

Pacster had been crying for several minutes. The only person who knew the truth about his hair was his aunt, parents, and these two older men. "Did they teach you about the blonde genocide in school? At the very least I'm sure your aunt must have told you." Said Sir C. "That thirty years ago during Pac-World War II Betrayus ordered all people that were blonde be put into camps where they were imprisoned into doing slave labor or outright tortured and killed. Ah, don't worry I won't go into the gory details." The old man was patting the boy's back as he wiped his tears and listened to the story. The other man stood next to the tree listening not saying a thing at all.

 

"Fifty-five years ago scientists made the discovery on the century in Pac-Tokyo. We call it the miracle of life. You see this tree before you isn't the original power-berry tree in fact it is the original's child made by cloning. In fact it was I who cloned the tree but that's besides the point. Anyway nearby Pac-Tokyo there was a grove discovered hidden in the valley of Pac-Akaishi mountains and what led in that grove was the original Tree of Life and it was discovered by the late Pactopher Lloyed. The berries coming off this tree were very unique in taste and appearance I can vouch for that one myself!" He laughed merrily at the memory. Pac just sat in silence, listening. "Yet something interesting happened when a blond ate a berry. You see when someone with natural yellow hair eats a berry they get a super power from it, we have documented five powers such as the power of fire, power of ice, power of flight, power of rock, and the power of chameleons. You see Pactopher himself was blonde and the first person to eat a berry although you probably figured that out but did you know he was the only blonde person on his team? When his assistance's tried the berries nothing happened to them and they could only pander why so to figure it out so his colleague Pacara McPactock did a few tests on him. Well, those tests found out something very interesting. You know what that was? That only those who carried the "blonde" gene could utilize the berries' power. That's all I know since the papers of that study have been burned."

 

This information was very difficult to take in but it also left questions. "Didn't you say that Pac-Tokyo was taken for territorial reasons? That would have been around the same time as that discovery..." The teenager put his hand over his mouth as he realized the truth. "Seems like you've figured it out. Indeed I didn't tell you the truth on the way here as I did not want to overwhelm you, that part was supposed to come when you met the tree. And look, it did!" It appeared that Sir Cumference has quite the sardonic sense of humor much to Pacster's chagrin. He should at least handle the topic with tact but all Pacster could do is jut clenched his fists as the old man went on.

 

"Pactopher found this news to be very amazing so he had to of course alert the media, something I would have done in all honesty. The whole world was shocked at this, Betrayus especially. Knowing him the news scared him so bad he had to do something about it so he decided to put his world-domination plans into action and Pac-Tokyo was his first victim. The power blonds could harness posed a threat to his plans so what does one do when carpenter ants threaten one's home? They hire an exterminator. Betrayus had someone forge evidence of a serious drug epidemic so he would have a decent excuse to invade the city and destroy both the tree and the research and murder the scientists behind the discovery. With an executive order he gathered Old Pacopolis' army and invaded the city-state. I'm sure you have an idea on what happened next from our conversation earlier." Both Pac and Sir C got up. "About ten thousand people died that day, Pactopher included. Most people are taught that only dissenters and a few civvies died but that of course isn't true." Stratos interjected. He held out his hand to Pac who hesitantly took it. "Poor Pactopher had no idea what his research would actually lead to."

 

"Pacster, after Pac-Tokyo Betrayus opened up both concentration and death camps for blondes that the public had no clue about. Out of curiosity, have you heard about them?" Pac put his hand on his chin. "Well, I have heard some rumors. Nothing official. Just that criminals get taken to isolated camps where they get re-educated and rehabilitated for society. To think that they were actually death camps this entire time..." The teen trailed off. This news about the camps disturbed him more so than anything else had in his life. Yes, everyone is taught about the blonde genocide but without the gory details. Teachers always said that they were peacefully and willingly euthanized with wills left behind requesting their wills to be fulfilled when in all actuality the wills were made up and the people killed were not willing. Learning this was quite sickening and Pac felt like he could thow up at any moment. "I see." Was all Stratos said. The Spheros had a solemn look on his face as if he did not want to reveal this information to the teenager but only did so because he needed to. "The camps are horrible, horrible places. Needless torture and inhumane medical experimentation goes on there and I will not be talking about that in detail today. Maybe some other time but I don't want to overwhelm you however there is also something else we need to discuss. Follow me into my office." Stratos led the young hero to his office which was two rooms beyond the door across the door in the greenhouse.

 

"So I know the truth about the first Pac-World War,the tree in the other room, and those horrible camps. What else am I supposed to know about, and why? I'm just a 14 year old freshmen who's horrible at schoolwork. Mom and dad worked for you guys, and that's great and all but there is absolutely no point in telling me these things." Pac said. The office he was in looked similar to that of the school guidance counselor but with more paperwork and less lame quotes. It was a very quaint room with concrete floor and steel walls. The center of the room stood a steel desk that obviously belonged to the better Spheros brother. "Yes we are well aware of how young you are and at first that is why I wanted to wait until you were out of highschool but it seems that fate has other plans. Rest assured that we will adapt to your age. Now, there is one of two more things that we need to discuss. Have you ever heard of the "Depository"?" The false orangette shook his head no as that word held no meaning to him. In fact he struggled to understand what this all had to do with him. "Then at the very least I'm sure you've heard of ghosts." Now this caused Pac to perk up!

 

"Ghosts?! I am an expert on them! I've read most books about them I can get my hands on, done some hands on research myself, and browse the internet all the time looking up videos and information on thm. Now you're speaking my language." Despite hearing some disturbing truths not too long ago, being able to speak earnestly about his favorite topic perked him up. Usually people would cringe at his ghost obsession but Speros only smiled. "Well it is nice to see such an enthusiastic response from a youngster. I know most people your age don't believe in ghosts and find the idea incredibly stupid so I thought you'd give me a mean look. Back on topic, as you may know ghosts are transparents souls of the dead who have not moved on or refuse to move on so they stay in this world but did you know that there is a nother dimension between this world and the afterlife? It is called by the nether realm or world. Approximately six thousand years ago the vast majority of spirits in this world were gobbled here in Pac-World and spat out there in the nether by a legendary hero known as Pac-Man. Now there is a lot about Pac-Man you must know about that I will talk about when the time is right and the time is not now. Ghosts used to be really awful beings that would torment the living and even devour them so one man decided that he must stop them so the hero's wife, Mrs. Pac-Man created a device that could transport their non-physical bodies to the nether realm successfully. The device used is what we call the repository and we have it here. Would you like to see it?"

 

While Pacster had never heard of Pac-Man before he really wanted to see the object where all of the world's ghosts were stored. "Of course, but I need to know why I'm being told all of this information. You just don't tell me everything you just did for no reason." Pacster may not be all that great in math but he knew when something fishy was up. He looked at the adult sternly. There was no way he wasn't going to get that answer. "Very well. Remember how I told you that blondes can harness the power of the power-berries that grow on that tree of life? We want to recruit you. I believe Sir Cumferance had already mentioned this had you forgotten?" The teen just looked down and blushed. "Well, let's go see the repository then." The elder nodded and they both got up and walked out of the office.

 

**the pac is back**

 

Greenary Orbus was not the brightest man, but he was the best at his job. He had been patrolling Maze High's boy dorms at night for the past ten years and no one had gotten past him at that point so it was only natrual that he would be enraged when he saw boy's room 002 opened to see that it's occupants weren't there. If the elderly man remembered right there were two boys who lived here. A fourteen year old no one liked and a fifteen year old outcast. Orbus did not want to know why they had left but he knew that they must be brought back in so he can keep up his perfect track record.

 

"No one messes with my perfect score!"

 

**the pac is back**

 

Both Stratos and Pacster were walking down a brightly lit hall similar to the one Pac walked with Sir C in. Pac was fiddling with his fingers nervously like he was awaiting to get a root canal. Ghosts were practically his life besides school and he always wanted to see one at least once in his life but now that he has the opportunity he felt nervous. Other parts of his mind thought of his best friend and how horrible it was of him to just leave him all alone in the maze. Spiral would have to hear about everything that happened but that also meant telling him about his true hair color which frightened our hero. Would Spiral reject him, maybe go as far as to turn him in? Or would he actually accepted and protect him? So many unknowns. Then his mind wandered to what would happen if the school found out. Skeebo would have the best day of his life and so would his goonies. Right now he needed to focus on the now and worry about the future when this is over with. "We're here. I will warn you that its very dusty as we barely visit this room." At the end of the hall there was a huge metal door that looked like the only way to open it was to push a button and in fact there was a button on the wall a few feet away from said door.

 

Stratos lifted his hand over the big yellow button. "Now there are some things I need to warn you about just consider it a safety measure. What you see in here is even more confidential then the fact you're blonde as odd as this may be odd to say. Absolutely no one must know because if someone gets their hands on the repository it would be absolute chaos. Do not touch the repository. Do not get close to the repository. Do not fear the repository. You have been warned, lad." Pacster couldn't help but roll his eyes. This guy knows he wouldn't tell otherwise the boy wouldn't have heard most of the stuff he did tonight. Perhaps this was just his way of being professional. "Of course I wouldn't tell, my life is on the line too." But his protests went unheard as the taller man hit the button and right after the teen heard the loudest siren ever just like how a vault is opening in Fallout 3. Our protagonist had to cover his ears unlike the man beside him who seemed unaffected. The metal door slowly moved back and then went onside it's socket inside the wall all while destroying Pac's ears. Stratos looked at Pacster and shook his head at the youngster's untrained ears. A few minutes later the siren stopped. "Why did that have to be so loud, I think my ears are bleeding!" Shouted the teen. Stratos let go of the button and said. "You will get used to these kinds of noises soon in fact you will see worse things than what you just heard. Come with me."

 

Thankfully Pac's ears were not bleeding but his head did hurt. After a few minutes of recovering himself our soon to be hero follows Stratos into the cold room. The older man was right in that it was a little chilly and looked as if no one had stepped foot in it in years. The repository room was only about 30 meters long and near the end was the urban legend in all its rainbow colored glory inside a slightly dirty glass case. "Told you it was a little dirty in here. Anyway what you are looking at is possibly the most important object in our possession, something your parents protected with all their might. So many lives were lost to make sure that the ghosts in that thing never got loose. You may approach it and carve it into your memory." His head felt normal after he gazed at the sacred object.

 

Just as it was described, the repository was indead cylindrical, large, and rainbow colored. While Pacster didn't know much on measurements he believed the repository had to be at least ten feet tall and as wide as a Pac-Sequoioideae tree. "Wow..." was all the boy could say. He was only a few feet away from it. "Ah, truly a sight for sore eyes. I need to call the professor real quick and make sure no one is in the maze near us." Still enchanted by the rainbow cylinder, our hero didn't hear a word and kept walking closer to it. "So pretty..." He reached out to it when he was just a foot away. He didn't know if he should be doing this but Stratos back was turned as he went to the phone and didn't tell him to stop so doing this must be okay, right? The colors where a rapturous red, opalescent orange, yokelish yellow, grandeur green, vibracious violet, incontestable indigo, and botswanan blue. There were a small pentagon pattern on the repository with the top and bottom having what looked like black lids. The colors moved all on their own throughout the cylinder as if they had minds of their own. It was gorgeous to Pac who had never seen something like this in his life in fact he reached out to touch the repository.

 

Pacster placed his hands on the repository and it felt warm. "What are you doing? Get your hands off of that this instant you have no idea what you're doing with!" shouted Stratos. Unfortunately this only startled Pacster, and in his fright he put extra force into his hands and accidentally shoved the repository down shattering it into pieces. "What have you done?"

 

From the shattered repository came forth a dark looking portal that seemed to be getting larger. Pacster crawled backwards towards his senior in fear. Minute by minute, the portal grew larger and soon covered the entire ceiling and for some reason laughter could be heard coming from it. The opening looked like dark purple clouds swirling and what seemed like lightning came from it. "I think I've made a big mistake..." Pacster was right, the repository kept the ghosts sealed and now they were free to roam in an already devastated world. "Ahahahahhaha!" All of a sudden a red ghost appeared from the portal laughing. "Wow, the world looks just the same as back when I lived in it. Same goes for the people, but man do you guys look weird. Its been what, a few hundred years? Seems like not being around humans makes them uglier." The red ghost looked around Pacster's age, but of course was red and transparent. He wore what looked like ripped blue jeans, a red long-sleeve shirt with a jean vest and had what looked like a gelled up pompadour that was slicked up for hair. Pac and Stratos could only stare in disbelief but in what was a few minutes the man picked up Pac and holstered him over his shoulder and flew out of the room. Behind them more and more ghosts came out of the portal.

 

"We need to get out of here now! We need to find the professor. As much as I want to reprimand you for what you did that must wait. Sir C should know how to put a stop to this mess, he always does." Pac was still in disbelief about what he saw and the fact that he caused THAT to happen. Ghosts really were real, and although he had no doubt in his mind of this he didn't want them to invade the world and hurt everyone. After what he assumed to be ten minutes, they both were in the monitoring station where he was viewing the portal and the ghosts rushing out of it from multiple computer screens. "I saw everything." Was all the older man said. "Figured. How bad does the situation look?" Stratos placed the teen down and fastly walked to the elder's side. Both had grim looks on their faces. "As you can see they keep on coming out. Some have even reached the surface and have begun terrorizing humans, that group of teens in the maze included. We have less than an hour before your brother notices and sends his troops to investigate and neutralize the ghosts. Looks like we need to pack up and leave for another base, I vote for the one we have secluded in a desert oasis." Nodding, Stratos looked to Pacster. "Actually, I think theres a way to salvage the situation. Pacster can stop the ghosts and despite us not testing out the power berries on him I believe its time for the world to meet a new Pac-Man." The man said with a smirk. Sir C's eyes widened at this. "We both know the risks but I'm afraid we may not have another way out for now."

 

Was he really going to use the power of the berry? The boy thought. He was nervous and afraid but if it was the only way to get rid of the ghosts... "I'll do it. I started this mess and now I must end it." Was all the blonde said. Both adults nodded and they all got up to run to the tree of life.

 

**the pac is back**

 

"So Blinky, you said you saw two humans when you first entered this world?" Asked a pink ghost. She had short hair that went up only to her ears, wore a poodle skirt that of course had a poodle on the side, a black shirt that had a pink tint to is with a matching ascot, and dress shoes with socks all while being pink. "Pinky they looked so stupid! You should have seen their faces it was so priceless they looked as if they were gonna piss themselves." The red ghost laughed harshly. "Swearing isn't nice. Maybe they never saw ghosts before?" A giant and fat orange ghost lectured. He wore jeans that looked a bit small for him, a plain T-shirt that clearly didn't fit, rain boots, and messy short hair that was all orange. "C'mon Clyde you know that humans haven't seen any of their dearly departed in ever." Blinky said as he rolled his eyes. Clyde really was a goody two-shoes sometimes. A blue ghost smirked. "Well looks like the gangs all here. Should we discuss our plan to get our bodies back?" The blue ghost wore what looked like jeans with a greaser jacket. HIs hair also was in pompadour style but with it being all twisted at the end. "Man you really are impatient Inky. I know we all made a pact to help each other get our bodies back but right now I just wanna wreck havoc!" Blinky replied.

 

The four were floating right above the maze, other ghosts flying out around them into different directions. Back in the Netherworld the group called themselves the ghost gang and all of them died untimely deaths. Because of this they all wanted to live again and experience the life they never had a chance to live. Of course, if you were to ask them what their goals were they wouldn't outright tell you.

 

**the pac is back**

 

"Guys, what is going on?" Cyli stared at all of the ghosts in confusion. The girl was doing her best to stop the boys from fighting each other but Spiral was about to throw a punch, the teens heard loud roaring laughter from beneath them. Next thing they knew a lot of transparent looking people coming out from the ground flying around. "I don't know but I'm getting out of here!" Shouted Car-Los who took off with Loophole following which left Spiral, Cylindria, and Skeebo frozen in total fear. "No way, these can't be ghosts! Ghosts aren't real!'

 

**the pac is back**

 

The three arrived at the Tree of Life. "We have no choice but to use this last resort. I really wanted to do some tests before doing this, you know. This is now the trial run." Sir Cumference was unsure about this but he couldn't come up with a better solution on how to handle the ghosts. At the very least a fast one. The scientist grabbed a ladder and placed it on the tree's side. "I know. Should the power of the berries make me strong and athletic? Because my gym class grades are in the gutter." Pacster said embarrassed. This is true, his friend Spiral would be better suited to fight ghosts but alas Spiral isn't blond. "Don't worry Pacster. It has been scientifically proven that the effects from a berry will improve all of your stats, strength included. Think of it like a magical drug that has almost no serious side effects. Now, get ready." The scientist clibed down the ladder with a blue berry in his hands. "You know, this is actually exciting. Here." Pacster took the berry and stared at it. Then he glanced at the tree. This really was it, wasn't it? A lot of information about the world, magical berries, and his parents was dumped on him. "You can do this Pacster. Zac and Sunny would be proud." Was all Stratos said when he saw the boy's hesitation.

 

Pacster held the berry to his mouth. "Well, here we go." Was all that was said as he thew it in his mouth, chewed, and swallawed. A few seconds later the teen's entire body started to glow in a light blue and he felt strange. "This is it!" Pacster felt a chill over his body that felt freezing but it didn't harm him. His skin turned light blue and his hair turned into ice and so did his clothes however he could move freely as if it was plain old water. His eyes turned a bright blue that looked almost white and his shoes turned pure white. The teen's hands sparkled into becoming pure white gloves. Pacster has transformed. "Wow, this feels so powerful! Like there's nothing I can't do!" He shouted. Both of the adults in the room smirked at this as they thought this day would never come. "Now you are what is called, 'Ice Pac-Man' and for the sake of your normal identity and life you must call yourself this. Now go, and show them that Pac-Man is back!"

 

And with that, our hero speedily flew through the secret entrance of the bunker to save the day.


	5. Pac-Man Saves The Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Re-watching the show made me realize how ridiculously OP Pac could be. A lost of those poor ghosts never stood a chance lol.

Orbus had no idea what he was looking at right now or what was going on. He went outside to catch the two missing brats and what he found seemed unreal. There was what looked like many multi-colored people flying in the air in various direction in the night sky. "What? This is bad those kids might get hurt!" Greenary began to panic. Hurt kids meant lawsuits or possibly being investigated by the government which in turn mean potentially losing his job which was the only thing the forty year old currently had in his life. "This is really bad. Should I wake up the principal?" More and more people were flying around much to his horror.

 

"BOO!" A voice shouted from behind him."Hih? Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiih!" Orbus screamed as he passed out on the School's stairs. Yes, he was indeed out-cold. "Oh man did you see the look on his face Clyde?" Said said ghost who scared the man. "Eh, I've seen better. You get a 6/10 Blinky." The orange ghost flippantly said.

 

_the pac is back_

 

Ice Pac flew above the maze looking to see if his friend was safe, and as fate would have it he was still in an are that looked the same as where he left him. "Why is Skeebo and his girlfriend there?" He said out-loud to no-one in particular. The three were frozen in fear as a red ghost approached them. It looked like a tall female adult in a nun uniform and in her hands she held... fire? It looked like she was going to hurt them! "No! Not on my watch!" Pac flew down to the ghost nun ready to attack. "You leave them alone RIGHT NOW!" Holding out his hands he created an ice orb and threw it on the fire ghost causing her to weaken. Then he opened his mouth and his blue tongue transformed into an appendage that looked like that of a vacuum cleaner and acted as such as it sucked the ghost up. Devouring it was an odd sensation. It felt like when you gulp down an entire watermelon whole, something no one I'm sure has ever done. A strange feeling overcame Pac's gut, causing him to burp. When he burped, a pair of eyes came out and flew off. "Well that was something. That ghost tasted like barbecued hot dogs which is something that I'd never thought I'd say!" Apparently part of his new powers given to him thanks to his blond genes were the ability to eat ghosts. Of course, for some reason the eyes escaped but that something for him to ask the professor later. Our hero was noticed by the group of frightened teens he lost but found. "Who...who are you? Do I know you? You look so familiar for some reason." Muttered Spiral. Of course they didn't recognize him in his ice form! Well, someone who knew his face really well like Spiral would probably be suspicious but that could be dealt with. All that mattered now was that Spiral, Cylindria, and Skeebo were safe.

 

Wait, Cylindria and Skeebo? What were they doing here?

 

"No, unfortunately, we do not know each other. I am Pac-Man and I have come to defeat these evil ghosts. Go, and run to safety." Pac-Man said in mid-air with his hands on his hips. Man he must look so cool! "We can't leave yet my bro Pacster is still missing." Hearing this made Pacster happy as this obviously meant that his best friend wasn't mad at him. "Speak for yourselves." Skeebo said. Of course he would say something like that. "Do not worry. Your friend is safe I encountered him and guided him safely through the maze hes back in the school now." Pac lied. He was right in front of them but they didn't know that. "Skeebo! That's horrible. Cut it out, now." Cyli pointed a finger at her boyfriend's face. "Get out of here while I take care of this mess." The teens listened and ran away to the entrance of the maze. "Man that was hard. Can't believe Skeebo and his girl were here but I'll figure that one out later. Right now this ghost mess needs taken care of."

 

Looking above him it seemed like ghosts were still pouring out from the portal. "Crap, at this rate there is no way to stop them all." There was no stopping all of the ghost within in hour so he had to do the next best thing: beat them all down. He rose above the maze facing the ghosts and breathed in. What seemed to amount of twenty ghosts noticed him and headed straight to the new legendary warrior. Right when they were exactly one meter close to him Pac blew out an icy mist that froze all twenty ghosts causing them to drop due to gravity. When they fell, all that came out were forty eyes. Pac watched as the eyes flew off to who knows where. "Well that was twenty. Don't know how the school or city hasn't sounded an alarm. In fact, how is the city faring with them?" He knew there were too much for him right now so he decided to speed over to the school to warn everyone, Pac just hoped everyone would believe him. Should I tell them about the ghosts? Or should I just pull the fire alarm? These thoughts raced on his mind as he flew into the principals office.

 

Pacster stopped right outside of the headmasters office a few minutes later or at least what he thought was the office. He placed his hands a centimeter over the window and put all of his focus into freezing it. The entire window was covered in a sleet of ice both inside and out so Pacster made his fist into a ball and punched it causing al frozen parts of the window to break. Hopefully he never gets caught for that. So our hero went inside the room and looked around for the intercom. As luck would have it, there were five on the desk all with their unique labels. First said outside, second said dorms, third said halls and classrooms, fourth said cafeteria, and the fifth label said every room so of course he picked the fifth one. Placing his icy finger on the button the teen took a deep breath. "Hello everyone," he began in a deep voice "We are experiencing intruders at the current moment. Please calmly evacuate to the gymnasium. This also goes for the faculty staff and night watch, all of you should also be headed to the gymnasium. Please evacuate to there as soon as I pull the fire alarm." As he turned off the mic, Ice-Pac hoped it was enough. As promised he pulled the fire alarm causing a very loud ringing noise to show how serious this was.

 

"Well that should be enough!"

 

_the pac is back_

 

Betrayopolis wasn't much of a quiet city, even at night. Most people had state-issued jobs and sometimes they were night shifts. Lights were on in every building thus lighting up the city so bright you would think that it was just a cluster of stars if you were to see it in the distance. People didn't complain, or moreso they couldn't. Not with Betrayus' army constantly patrolling the streets, air, and even undercover in secret so everyone had to keep their personal thoughts to themselves. The pay adults received from their work was also deemed what they deserved so people who worked as waiters and waitresses didn't have enough money to spend like lawyers. Housing was paid for with only taxes to worry about while children were sent to a boarding school of the parent's choice starting at age 5 until graduation with them being able to go home on holidays and weekends, of course. Right now many people were going to and from their jobs, with consumers also walking around.

 

All of them noticed something peculiar in the sky, looking almost like a school of fish flying in the air. "Does anyone else see this?" Said an adult man in a suit who pointed at the sky. "Its not a bird flock, since you can't see through birds. Can't be planes either since we'd know if we were under attack or if there was a parade going on." More and more people looked up. "You know, now that I got a good look at them they kinda look like people. Wait a minute... people?" Indeed. If one were to take a closer look at the flying beings and upon closer look they looked like humans. Multi-colored humans, to be exact. Some people screamed, others ran and a few were frozen in space. No one could explain what was going on and everyone knew that it was impossible for humans to fly like the ones in the sky. "Everyone run! Run!" A woman screamed. This seemed to amuse the people above, as most of them just laughed at the pitiful display below them.

 

Alarms began to sound as the people began to panic. "This is not a drill, this is not a drill! We are under attack by an unknown force please evacuate in a calm and orderly fashion. I repeat, this is not a drill. Head to your closest evac center immediately in a calm and orderly fashion." This message was played throughout the city and even outside of it. The people who first spotted the ghosts ran aimlessly while people waking up thanks to the alarms did as they were told. Soldiers escorted the citizens while others neutralized that panicking ones, and there were even a few who attempted to fight off the ghosts to no avail. Every single bullet went right through them as if they were water which only made them laugh more almost as if anything the soldiers in black did was futile.

 

Betrayopolis was in complete chaos.

 

Inside the biggest tower Lord Betrayus was watching everything with his butler. "Hmmm, this chair sure is comfy. I particularly like how the silk cushion feels it really makes watching this more entertaining. Don't you agree, Butt-ler?" Said butler just rolled his eyes and muttered something. Butt-ler appeared as am elderly man with combed over white hair. His eyes looked miserable as if the old man had been up for days and he wore a dark blue butler suit that looked expensive. Butt-ler was actually named Lerson Buttocks but was just called Butt-ler by everyone and it was obvious he was done with life because of that. "Sir, you seem so relaxed. Why? Your Capital is under attack and your soldiers are unable to neutralize the threat. Shouldn't you be panicking?" Butt-ler said in an unamused tone. Betrayus was on the top of his tower watching all of the chaos in his very fancy chair. The old man had a point, as anyone would find a dictator watching his lands be destroyed as odd. "Ahhh, I see your brother hadn't informed you. You see those are ghosts and where do ghosts come from?" Betrayus asked with a wave of his hand. "Dead people?" He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world which to be fair it is. "Yes, but that isn't the answer you dweeb. They are in the repository which means that they should be in there and not be here. According to intel its believed that the damn resistance has it and yet this is happening. So of course this means there is only one possibility, Butt-ler."

 

"They are getting desperate enough to release the ghosts."

 

_the pac is back_

 

With the school safe, Pac headed straight to the town eating any ghost that came his way. Which, of course, were fifty but were no problem. Now the problem was with the ghosts invasion of the town with all of its civilians freaking out. Soldiers were either running away or trying to fight off the transparent menace to no avail. Pacster could tell that this wasn't going to be much fun. "Where should I even start?" He sighed out loud. As if some benevolent force out there was listening to him, his question was answered by what sounded like a screaming woman below him. Pac looked and saw four women being surrounded by at least over forty ghosts who were all green. Ice Pac simply swung down and shot ice at them from both of his hands together which managed to revert all of the ghosts back to eyes. "Are you ladies okay?" Asked the young hero. The lady in the front with cyan hair stood up. "We are now. Thank you whoever you are. It seems as if most of theses things are located in town square so if you want to stop them head there. We will never forget you." Nodding, Pac flew straight into town square. "Krystal, who was that? I've never seen anyone capable of doing something like that." Krystal just waved at the hero of ice and said, "Someone I've been waiting to see for a long time."

 

Of course Pacster didn't hear any of that as he was too busy flying to Town Square. "I just hope this form lasts for awhile longer." He couldn't afford to lose it right in the middle of battle and there is no way he could take on all of the ghosts as a regular human. No way. Besides, he liked all the power that the berry gave him. He felt invincible but of course if that power could randomly go away just like that then he wasn't. In fact now that he was thinking about it it was pretty weird how he was having no trouble defeating the ghosts. Perhaps the story of Pac-Man really was true.

 

Pacster finally reached the square after a few minutes and the place really was in chaos. "Help, help! That one eyed ghost over there just ate my grandpa!" Pac rushed to the shout to see a boy no older than five cower before a large, pale cyclops ghost. It had to be at least twelve feet tall with purple sideburns. Purple sideburns? That couldn't be as all ghosts were supposed to have a singular color. Could this mean that paranormal researchers have been wrong? Of course that didn't matter, he had an elderly man to save! "Stay behind me." Was all the teen said as he formed hardened ice around his shoe. He lunged at the monster foot first and oddly enough there was no wright to the ice. "Foot of snow!" Pac shouted as he kicked the ghost causing it to collapse onto itself exploding into ectoplasm. "My grandpa, my grandpa, is he...?" The small boy fearfully asked. "I don't see...stay back, somethings moving!" There indeed was something moving inside the ectoplasm. Pacster stood in front of the child in a defensive stance only to see the a person emerge from the goo. "That was HORRIBLE! It was like I was bathing in magma, never again!" Both young boys hugged each other in joy. "Grandpa! Grandpa, I was so scared that I lost you." The boy cried out running to his grandpa. "I did to! I thought my life here was over but gladly it wasn't, let's get to safety." The duo walked off without the grandfather thanking Ice-Pac. Well, he did need to put all of his effort into driving away the ghosts now and be sad about not receiving a thanks later.

 

Now that he had all his focus on, he looked around the familiar center of Betrayopolis and took in all of the sadness and destruction. He only came here occasionally after school on some days, and before he didn't go into town. Streets were all cracked and in shambles, vehicles all crashed into each other with some even on fire. The surrounding stores and buildings had their windows broken and Pacster could see some people hiding inside. Pacsters heart was broken upon looking at this sight, and he knew he needed to find a way to take care of all of the ghosts at once instead of twenty by twenty. Now how? "Hello, hello? Is this thing on? It should be since I fixed it just yesterday." Pacster could hear a voice coming from his pants pocket. Wait, a voice coming from his pocket? "Who are you and why are you in my pants?!" Screamed Pac. "Well this is Sir C and I am not in your pants I'm communicating to you from a walkie-talke for Pac-Christ's sake! Stratos snuck it in there when you two were talking about the past." Now Ice-Pac felt bad, he just realized how bad what he said could be implicated. "How are things on the outside? We're monitoring the situation here in the lab with the experimental ghost radar and the experimental ghost detector. From what we see, there are at least 1,000 ghosts left in Betrayopolis and that isn't entirely a good thing." That was a good thing? That was a lot! "Since, most ghosts have scattered all over the world. From what we can see it appears most of them are going underground to regroup. The ones that are terrorizing the city are more independent and we need those at least chased off."

 

"Actually right before you called I was trying to brainstorm a way on how to drive them all out at once. Not sure how, and if my powers go to their full strength they may destroy Betrayopolis. What do you recommend doc?" Asked the hero. It was true, if say he used his ice powers to conjure a blizzard or his full strength it would decimate the city and harm and kill many living people. There had to be a way to drive out the ghosts and save everyone left and if anyone knew the answer it would be someone as smart as the scientist. "Well lets see, you have ice powers now from the ice berry, correct? I'd suggest that you conjure up a mighty blizzard. Since it would come from the power berry's power, the snowy storm can harm ghosts. Although I suppose it wouldn't make much sense with it being June and all. Don't worry about the civvies, most of them headed for shelter and are indoors. Besides if you don't do something the ghosts will eat them. Doing something and having something bad happen is better than doing nothing and having something bad happen." The old man was right. At least if he did something some people who would have otherwise be killed would have been saved.

 

Pac smiled as he knew exactly what he should do. He flew high into the air above the city, with no one seemingly watching. Pac was completely immune to the air pressure, temperature change, and he definitely didn't need oxygen thanks He had to at least be in the atmosphere when the young hero pulled his breaks and stopped. "Okay, lets do this. Everyone is counting on you to fix your mistake." The teen quietly said as he clasped his hands together. From that exact clap atoms transformed into ice crystals from the powerful soundwave Ice-Pac made (this was one of his Ice forms many powers) and they expanded into each and every cloud above Betrayopolis and every cloud itself darkened. They grew minute by minute and soon snow started to fall hard with a strong wind thanks to an el nino. It wasn't long before the snowstorm covered all of the city and even some of the outskirts. "What awesome power I have..." Pacster whispered to himself watching the scene.

 

_the pac is back_

 

"Oh what the helly is this? Why is it snowing in June? Now I know that the weather reporter needs to be fired and our satellites outdated. Buttler! Tell your brother to create new weather satellites this instant and let B-Station know that the current weatherman is fired. Now." Betrayus was not happy as he didn't care for snow. He was more of a heat fan. Of course, Buttler could do nothing but comply as usual.

 

_the pac is back_

 

It took an hour but Pac made his way back to his school. He powered down in a dumpster in an alley after he made that blizzard and he made sure that there were no cameras in that alley. Luckily enough there was a working bike near said dumpster which is how he made it there. "Oh man oh man I hope I don't get into trouble!" Dawn had arrived, and the sky was starting to light up. Pacster ran to him room ignoring the looks from his so called peers. "Pac? Pac buddy you had me worried!" Pacster looked at no other than his best friend Spiral who stood at the mini fridge. "Sorry, sorry...huff...I hid in the dumpster." The younger teen fluffed his own hair which had turned back to its orange color. "That explains the smell but did you know how worried Cyli and I were? Only 90% of the student body made it to the gym and we waited and waited for you hours on end. Did you have your EyePhone with you?" The older teen had a mixture of worry, anger, and fear on his face. While our hero wanted to tell him he decided now wouldn't be the best time. He could trust Spiral, couldn't he? "No. I think its in my lockers. How is everyone else?"

 

"Well Pac, Skeebo revealed what a huge douchebag he is to Cylindria. Who by the way is his ex now. He and his cronies were the guys who freaked you out." Spiral crossed his arms with an angry look on his face. "Hey. I do not freak out!" Pac yelled. "Anyway those sickos kept saying disgusting things about you I will not repeat and those two jerks Car-Los and Loophole were there too and kept picking on her. Oh and guess what? Skeebo didn't do anything to defend her in fact he left her there when the real ghosts arrived." Something Pacster remembered well. How could someone leave their loved one behind in a crisis let alone let their friends bully them? "We were saved by some guy named Pac-Man. Can't imagine what would have happened to us if not for him. You really should've seen him though, he could fly and was really really blue!"

 

Pac just smiled. "Too bad I never saw him. I am worried about Cylindria since you know what Skeebo's group does to people who get exiled from it. Lets invite her to lunch." Spiral just nodded. The next few days were going to be hell on her. He remembered when he got the treatment just for standing up for his roomie and it wasn't fun at all. "So how does breakfast sound?" Asked Pac. "Sounds great, I do need some good grub after last night."

 

"Cool, I'll get a shower first. Meet you by the lunch room!" The darker skinned teen nodded and left the room. This would give Pac some time to think and that he did as he sat right there on the floor. So much had happened in a span of a night. He learned about his parents and aunt. He was told a history willingly destroyed and forgotten. He used a power never used outside of a testing room. He met two good people who promised to help him. He took out the walkie talkie. "Hello? Sir C?" Pacster said as he pushed the button. "Yes? What is it? I see almost no signs of ghost activity in the vicinity of Betrayopolis." The older man sounded busy but hanging up now would be just asinine. "Where do I go from here? I'm back at school." I can't think of anything else to say he thought. Now Pac felt stupid, as if he was wasting the elder man's time. "Lay low for now. Stratos and I are debating on if we should move to a base outside the city and it's limits." This was worse than listening to the teachers! He probably should have gone and get that shower.

 

No, he already made his choice. "What about the ghosts? There was so many of them I can't just believe I got all of them." Which was true. If the repository carried every single dead soul then the ghost population must be up in the billions somewhere. This meant if they weren't wrecking havoc here then they must be wrecking havoc elsewhere. "The repository is currently being repaired by yours truly and will be done in a few months. Yes, that long. Stratos and I have discussed that in the mean time we will call upon you to help us contain the ghosts if they get out of hand like if they launch an assault somewhere or whatever. After that, if you so wish, we want you to assist us in our fight against Betrayus. Now lad, you don't have to but you'll have a lot of time to consider this. Any questions?" All of this sounded like a fair deal to the teen. He was the only one who could wield the power of the power berries after all. It also was very generous that they asked him for his help instead of forcing him or even ending his life simply because he was blonde. "I understand everything you said but I need to leave before I make a liar out of myself. See, my friend is waiting for me and I said I was going to get a shower which I really need to get right now." That made him sound so desperate to leave the conversation but it was the truth. If only Pac was good at words. "Okay then. I will contact you when I need you next. Bye." That went well!

 

Pacster went outside his room and looked out at the windows, sunlight rays from dawn flowing in. This was the beginning of a new era not only for him, but the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was late but all I can say is that some very major life changes happened and I had to move to the other side of the country which is why this took so long to get out. I apologize for the inconvenience.

**Author's Note:**

> In case you were wondering the pac is back means the scene has changed. I feel like there is a better way to do it but that will be there as a placeholder until I figure out what to put there. This was originally posted on Fanfiction.net with 4 chapters as of the date of being uploaded onto this site.


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